


Act One: So begins the game anew

by mobileLignum



Series: Replay [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Choices, Choose Your Own Adventure, Gen, SBURB
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:04:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mobileLignum/pseuds/mobileLignum
Summary: You're standing absentmindenly in your room, all memories wash away, and you become excited of playing the game again





	1. A young man stands in his bedroom

You open your eyes, and there is nothing dramatic about it. Nothing surprising is going on about the eye opening going on here, since it is merely a consequence of you closing your eyes in the first place. The sight of your room is as familiar as the sound of your own voice, which is to say it’s familiar as it can fucking be. You look around, and everything is so grounded, familiar, and concrete you’re almost confused. Briefly a sense of euphoria takes over your whole body, and it goes away as quickly as it came. You try to recall why you might be happy today, and the sudden realization that it’s your birthday comes in like a naked man painted blue in a Halloween party, which is to say it’s unexpected.

Today, the 13th of April of 2009 it is your birthday. It was thirteen years ago that you were given life, and while, from a storytelling standpoint this would be the best moment for the players to introduce your name, you realize that they already chose said name, and that dwelling on it any longer would verge on repetitive and ridiculous. Your already chosen name is John Egbert, and today you will be playing a game. Or at least you want to play a game, said form of entertainment has been eluding you for three days already and you’re starting to become impatient. You got the feeling that today will be the day it arrives though. In fact, you’re not wasting any more time in introspection. You ignore the notification coming from your Pesterchum and seeing through the window right the fuck now.

As a matter of fact the flag (which happens to be the name for the flippy lever dealy. Information which you don’t know or care where you learned) is flipped up, meaning the mailman has left something for you, and your Egbert senses tell you is the game. You hurry downstairs like the warning of falling down them is nothing to be feared, and predictably you fall down them like a stupid toddler. On hindsight those things should have bars on the side. You shake off your pain and quickly go outside your house. You can see your dad’s car in the distance, and immediately you take everything that was in the mailbox with you upstairs. Said objects are two copies of SBURB, a green package, and a red package. This is not a big deal what so ever.

Once inside you hurry back upstairs without paying mind to the huge gift box in your living room, and even if you did something in you tells you that whatever is inside will only be bad news. You’re upstairs now, and you feel like you’ve been getting shit done a lot faster than usual. You place everything from the mail on your bed. You decide to ignore the two packages for now and focus on the game. You don’t know why there are two copies of it but you’re excited nonetheless. You walk towards the computer only to realize your chum is still pestering you.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering  ectoBiologist [EB]

TG: john 

TG: john are you there

TG: did he do this?

ectoBiologist [EB] is an idle chum! 

TG: ok make believe time is over 

TG: oh god

TG: oh fuck 

TG: oh god 

EB: yeah i’m here! jeez are you ok? you sound a bit freaked out 

EB: dave, is something wrong?

TG: john what the hell 

TG: of course something is fucking wrong 

TG: first were fighting manbro bukakke dudechild 

TG: next thing i know im reliving my nightmares 

EB: haha what? 

EB: is this a prank? 

EB: oh man, you know how great i am at pranks 

TG: dude what 

TG: oh my god you really dont remember

TG: great fucking job dave youre stuck with little thirteen year old Egbert 

EB: oh yeah! 

EB: that reminds me! i just got two sburb copies! do you wanna play?


	2. Calsassination Attempt

Your name is DAVE STRIDER. Today is the worst day of your life, and that ain’t nothing to sneeze at, on a scale to unsniffable black licorice to sneeze town garden of allergy flowers this ranks in fucking low. After john asked you to play the game you couldn’t help but disassociate for a few minutes, you could barely even think. You’re eventually grounded enough to assess the situation as best as you can. Things are clearly different, and you still don’t know what to do. Egbert’s clueless thirteen year old mind would probably not catch any of the hints you would send that there’s something going on, of course there’s no sense in not trying, but maybe you should wait until he’s not a complete “noob” before you go ahead and tell him.

You realize you’ve spent so much time thinking about how fucked up everything is that you’ve left him hanging.

turntechGodhead [TG] is an idle chum!

EB: dude? 

EB: are you ok? 

EB: i get this feeling that you’re not 

EB: hey maybe the game can take your mind of it 

EB: i bet that what ever you’re so freaked out about can be solved by just playing a game with your friends! 

EB: and if not then hey, you don’t have to avoid it or what ever 

EB: i just got this feeling that this game has something to do with whatever’s worrying you, maybe you think you’re too cool to play it and are all like 

EB: “man im just so cool but i love my friends so much @4chan what do 

EB: see? I can do metaphors too :B 

turntechGodhead [TG] is no longer idle!

TG: yeah im here 

TG: yknow what yeah ill play that game with you 

EB: sweet! i’ll install the game! 

EB: wait which version should i install 

You look at the screen for a few seconds, and wonder if you should really be changing the server client chain, especially when you know for a fact rose will be getting hit with meteors much sooner than you are. You then settle on the obvious solution.

TG: ill be both you and roses server 

EB: whats that mean? 

TG: it means dave striders is fulfilling his mythological role as the drow pimp of sunnydale and getting everybody served like theyre on a trip on butler island and all the buttlers happened to be a bunch of daves 

TG: i lost track of that metaphore but what i mean is dont worry about it it just means im gonna be getting you through the first steps of the game 

EB: alright! it’s installing 

TG: alright while it does that im gonna go do something real quick 

EB: alright! 

You then look over your list of chums. You realize that both Rose and Jade are online, and ponder if either of them remember anything. You circle through the possibilities in your head, Rose is a seer but her powers are more luck based if you remembered correctly. Jade on the other hand had an advantage over the game from the beginning of the session, even if said advantage was completely based on predestination. You begin to wonder if Jade’s visions have changed now that the timeline’s changed, you then go on to wonder if this is a doomed timeline but decide not to dwell on it for now.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering  gardenGnostic [GG]

TG: jade im gonna ask you a quick question 

TG: do you remember anything 

TG: or do your clouds tell you something new at least 

GG: what? :0 

GG: i didn’t expect you to wake up so soon!! 

GG: how’s dreaming in derse? i heard it’s super scary down there 

TG: fuck 

TG: jade what did your clouds tell you about the game 

GG: what game??? 

No use talking to her right now, she’s asleep. You groan and quickly check on John to ask if his game’s done installing, and he tells you that it’s not. You suppose you got some time to kill at the moment. You get up from your desk and look around your old room for a bit, and frown. This place brings nothing but bad memories. Just the idea that your bro might be around gets you terrified. You leave the game installing on your computer before you hesitantly exit your room. You consider making a run for your bro’s room before remembering you have to keep quiet in order to try and avoid one of his sneak attacks. You’re sweating as you do this, and you’re visibly shaking. You whisper profanities to yourself as you take each step.

You make it to your bro’s room, and boy is it as terrifying as you remember. Your heart rate accelerates at the sight of so many puppets, but of course your objective is only lil cal. It sits on the counter like a smug little shit. You do not hesitate in grabbing that thing and open the weapon filled microwave. You grab one of the swords and begin stabbing the everliving fuck out of the thing, and you can swear it’s fucking cackling. Suddenly the god forsaken puppet is out of your hands. You shake a bit before turning around to see your bro, who stares at you in that cold stoic manner while holding cal. You shake, and tears start coming out of your eyes. 

You get the idea that somewhere out there people knew there wasn’t a chance you could scape this and are laughing at the implication that you ever would.


	3. Jade: Dream

Your name is Jade Harley and boy are you confused. You weren’t expecting your friends to know anything about Prospit or Derse at this point in time, but the idea of it makes you excited! It makes you feel like the time when John wakes up is probably closer than anticipated. You decide to fly out of your tower and as always you’re met with the beautiful sight of the golden kingdom. You look up to see if the clouds have anything new to say. You see John hugging his father, and you can’t help but let out quick ‘aw’. On another cloud you see John in his bedroom, looking quite troubled. You hope he’s going to be ok. You reach the neighboring tower to see prospit’s prince dreaming as always, and it seems like he’s still having trouble. Sometimes you feel as if something is directly interfering with his sleep schedule, and it makes you feel bad, and lonely. You really can’t wait for him to wake up.

You wonder if you can give your friends a nudge in the right direction. You go back to your tower and onto your computer, you wonder if anyone else has woken up.

gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering  tentacleTherapist [TT]

GG: rose? 

GG: rooooose 

TT: Jade 

TT: It seems today’s the day everything changes 

TT: Though I have a feeling that it already has 

GG: haha, what? 

GG: what do you mean? 

TT: Fuck 

TT: I was really hoping you’d remember 

GG: remember what? :0 

TT: Nevermind. Today’s the day we play the game, right? Neither John nor Dave are answering my messages. 

TT: Do you have an idea why? Or should this be the exact moment I start taking your cluelessness as yet another obstacle to overcome now that we’re basically back where we started 

GG: i just wanted to ask you if you woke up yet! 

A few seconds pass and the notification telling you that she’s typing doesn’t appear. You wonder if you’ve done something wrong and rushed things too quickly.

TT: I’m not sure I should 

GG: i’m asking because dave woke up! and maybe that means we can meet sooner than we thought! 

TT: Are you sure Dave woke up? 

GG: he asked me about the clouds, so 

GG: wait are you awake too?!! :D 

GG: amazing! i’m going over there right now 

TT: Jade 

gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering  tentacleTherapist [TT]

TT: God fucking darn it 

You’re flying faster than you’ve ever flied before. You can’t wait to meet over with your friends and have a great meeting! You fly past Skaia’s light and closer to the veil, even though the veil isn’t something you should know about yet. You reach your goal and now you feel a whole lot different than how you felt in Prospit. This whole place seems to be engulfed in darkness. There are things singing in the sky, it’s kinda creepy, but also kind of exciting! You’ll have to ask Rose and Dave about those later, maybe they’ve been awake for longer than you thought. 

You reach Derse’s moon, it’s two towers stand before you. You quickly go check on one of them to find Dave sleeping. You frown, his dream self must’ve gotten tired at some point, but you can’t help but wonder why he’s crying. You fly over to the other tower to find rose, who has been waiting for you, she looks tired too. How long had they been waiting for you?

ROSE: Jade 

ROSE: Pardon the insult here but what you just did was very stupid. 

ROSE: Whatever you do don’t listen to what they have to say for too long. 

You don’t quite follow, but you smile and nod anyway. You float over to her and sit next to her. She seems to be feeling a little awkward, and you wonder why. You figured your friends would be happy to meet you.

JADE: what’s wrong rose? 

JADE: you look all…gloomy 

ROSE: Do I now? 

JADE: yes, what’s wrong miss gloomy pants? 

JADE: need a visit from the smile doctor? 

ROSE: Jade I’m really not in the mood for this 

You frown. You thought a bit of silliness would be welcomed. Rose might like to think that she’s above kiddy stuff but you can tell she likes being silly once in a while. You were sure that would work.

JADE: tell me, what went wrong? 

ROSE: Everything but if I went into detail right now I would probably have to explain it again later now would I? 

ROSE: I’ll tell you when we wake up. I have a lot to think about right now 

JADE: …alright. i guee i’ll see you later 

You begin flying out the window when suddenly as you leave you hear Rose say something.

ROSE: You should talk to one of the trolls 

You have no idea why you would do that, but Rose is your friend. You feel as if something’s going on and you should probably listen to her. 

Later that day you wake up on your bed. That was a lot of stuff that happened in that dream. You figure you better follow Rose’s advice as soon as possible. You search through your chumproll, and wonder which one of the trolls will be the most approachable. You settle on the choice that makes the most objective sense. 

gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering  terminallyCapricious [TC] 


	4. Jade: Take advice

GG: hey :/ 

TC: wOw wHaT Is Up WiTh yOuR GrEeN TeXt bRo 

TC: iTs lIkE ThE MoSt wIcKeD Of SlImEs aLl Up aNd sPlAtTeReD On mY ScReEn 

GG: err, yeah 

GG: my friend rose told me to talk to one of you? 

TC: tHaTs rEaLly sWeEt oF ThEm 

TC: wHaTcHa gOt iN YoUr ThInKpAn nEw fRiEnD? 

GG: honestly, i don’t know? 

GG: i guess i want answers 

GG: my friends are awake on their moons all of a sudden and im not sure why that happened so quickly 

GG: the clouds tell me to wait but all of a sudden…

GG: i don’t know, i guess i don’t feel like following the clouds anymore 

GG: do you know what i mean? 

TC: i ThInK YaLl sHoUld jUsT Go aNd dO WhAtEvEr fEeLs rIgHt 

TC: mAyBe tHe aNwSeR HaS BeEn iN YoUr bLoOdPuShEr aLl aLlOnG 

TC: iF yAlL dOnT fUlLY bELiEvE iN tHe CloUdS oR wHaTeVeR tHe FuCk tHeN YaLl sHoUlD JuSt FoLlOw wHaT YoU Do bElIeVe iN 

GG: you always were the nicest troll 

TC: aW ThAtS ReAlLy nIcE Of YoU SlImEbRo 

GG: i think i know what to do! 

GG: thank you :) 

You’re now John. You’ve been waiting for Dave for a while now and you’re starting to lose your patience. You’re considering asking either Rose or Jade about being your server player, since it does strike you as a bit suspicious that Dave suddenly shows interest in the game, you would’ve thought he’d stay away from it given how it got slammed in Game Bro, but then again Game Bro is a fucking joke.

Oh and also there are clowns on your walls, you’re also pretty sure this isn’t your room. That was a sudden shift, one minute you were standing in your room waiting for Dave and suddenly you’re in this shiny place. A girl sits next to you, she’s looking pleased with herself. You immediately recognize the girl in spite of absolutely never having seen her face before.

JOHN: jade! 

JADE: john! 

You both proceed to instinctively hug each other. And inside you’re all excited! You can’t believe you’re meeting with one of your best pals! She looks at you all happy, and seems like she’s got a question on her mind.

JADE: john, is this the first time you’ve been awake? 

JOHN: what do you mean? 

She frowns, and you can tell you did something wrong. She looks like she’s thoughtful about something. After a while she grabs your hand and flies you out of your room, and although this whole thing should shock you you’re really not all that surprised. This almost feels natural. As you leave you can see numbers on the clouds, and a feeling tells you you should remember them. You end up in a purple place, Jade checks on one of the towers. You wonder what’s gotten her so worried. You decide to check on the other tower and-Holy shit what is that thing. 

The puppet moves around the room on it’s own, not quite articulating it’s limbs but rather appearing and reappearing on different places. You can’t help but be extremely wary of the thing. You enter the tower ignoring the sleeping boy and throw that thing out the tower. Who gives a shit about the Striders’s affinity for puppets that thing had to go.

JADE: darnit! rose is asleep! 

You turn to look at Jade, and you think you’re beginning to recall something but it keeps scaping your grasp. Oh well, it’s probably nothing. She sits on the tower’s window and you sit next to her.

JADE: i don’t get it john. are the clouds just, wrong? 

You’re about to say something when a noise ressembling a notification brings you out of the purple place. You’re back in your room and-Holy shit there’s clowns everywhere. 

Whoever’s on the computer can wait you’ve got to talk to your dad about this.


	5. Not a big deal whatsoever

Your name is Aradia Megido and until now you’ve felt as if every moment being you was one predictable disaster after the other. You knew failure would come, as a virtue of having access to the memories of other Aradiabots, you also knew it would be because of another session that said disaster would strike. What you had been unable to predict was the other session making the first contact. A supposed alien had messaged Gamzee of all trolls and had made it sound like they were aiding each other. As ordered by Karkat you would have to find out where the alien came from and see if they can get you all out of this mess, though you frankly doubt it so. You have been aiding Sollux with his computer shenanigans all day until you finally get a peek into these kids’s timeline. You’ve been keeping your mouth shut about them being responsible for your doom in the first place, you’d like to know why or how that happened first, despite your cold metallic exterior you’re actually intrigued, even if you know your efforts to scape your doom are futile.

You were expecting to just observe them from afar rather than directly interacting with these kids, until you hear a sound in your computer, and it appears one of the aliens is pestering you. You’re pretty sure this isn’t meant to happen, and this unexpected stuff is starting to become more and more concerning.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering  apocalypseArisen [AA]

TT: It would appear that now is the time 

TT: We’ve got the plan ready, it’ll be as if everything was back into place. Though I guess everything always seemed out of place back then in the first place 

TT: Not that you’re familiar with any of what I’m saying, and even if you remembered you wouldn’t know of anything that happened in the meteor 

AA: what are y0u d0ing 

TT: We’re off to a good start 

TT: Aradia I’m gonna need you to listen up 

AA: what 

AA: h0w d0 y0u kn0w my name 

TT: You told me 

AA: i suddenly understand everything 

TT: Good. I wasn’t expecting to have to explain these shenanigans to you. I’m supposed to do you a favour, but you have to do a few things for me 

AA: such as? 

TT: You need to convince Karkat to talk to EB after he wakes up. Convince past me to keep writing that walkthrough. 

AA: 0k 

TT: Then you have to tell Gamzee to captchalogue a..’slime pie’ and give the code to Jade 

AA: thats a bad idea. thats a fact that i am stating f0r the rec0rd 

AA: but 0k 

TT: Are you actually gonna do any of this? 

AA: im n0t 0ne t0 questi0n anything 

TT: I am not gonna miss this version of you 

AA: what d0es that imply 

apocalypseArisen [AA] exploded 

Later Aradia would revive, go god tier, and complete a series of timeloops. This is not a very big deal at all. Is so not big of a deal that you’re back to being Dave. You’re shaking in your shoes while you stand in front of your bro. You hold onto your sword, and it’s been so long since you’ve held a broken weapon, let alone a complete one. He runs at you and you can tell he’s ready to hurt you once more. Your little breakdown was more than embarrassing, but he didn’t care, all he cared was your fake battle of one upsmanship. You hate this. You hate your bro. You hate confrontation. You break down into the floor again, and he thinks you’re pathetic, he doesn’t say it, but he doesn’t comfort you either. You reach for your phone only to have him take it.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

TT: Dave 

TT: Are you there? 

TT: I’ve gotten hints that you remember things. I was also just told I should be rewriting my walkthrough by one of the trolls 

TT: Pester me when you get this 

TG: The lil’man isn’t avaible right now. Try again later 

TT: Who’s this? 

He just walks away. You really hope he’s not taken an interest into ruining your social life now. That’s the last thing you need. Not that there’s much concern over it now that you’re crying on your roof, that is, right before you pass out.


	6. Doc Scratch: What is happening to your timeline?

Nothing is wrong, or at least, not for long. Sure there are, dark patches where a lot of information should be, and things aren’t going according to plan for one reason or the other, but I have no fear that this is no problem at all. I have faith in my omniscience, anything that I do not know about the situation will be handled eventually. Perhaps I will have to search for events manually for now, but that’s no real issue. The most satisfying part of the search for knowledge is realizing how smart one is afterwards, and paying no mind to how ignorant past you’s limitations seemed at the time. Past Doc Scratch would be sure to agree 

The arrival of my master is much sooner than previously anticipated, that much I know. If not why would I be speaking in the voice he once claimed? Truly this confusion is just a gift in disguise. I’ll find out what’s happening, and then It will all go back to how it used to be. Right now I am going to check on one of the essential parts of the plan. The devotion the clown will show is already written, there’ll be no room for confusion in checking things with him 

began pestering  terminallyCapricious [TC] 

Gamzee. As you may or may not know, a lot of what you may call ‘contrived bullshit’ started happening and you being so familiar with contrivance I figured I might check how things are going with you 

TC: leave 

Well, let’s pretend I didn’t see that answer coming. This is the part where I say ‘why’? 

TC: i said 

TC: LEAVE 

Type writer exploded 

That outburst was highly unnecessary. He was never meant to show that much defiance. Hmm…I should talk with his past self, see what leads him to become like that. Nevermind that previous statement, I have figured it out. My interactions with him in the past will lead to his behavior in the future. He will become attached to the Harley girl, and through the combined efforts of people that care far too much about his mental state they will prevent my creation. Of course, that doesn’t work anyway, because currently I exist in a separate timeline to theirs, and the right one exists simultaneously with this one. 

“But Doc” I hear you asking “Shouldn’t you be concerned with whatever they’re doing to change things. Isn’t Gamzee’s little outburst gonna prevent you from communicating with the alpha timeline?” Do not worry, my dear guest. These are no complications, I hardly doubt anything they do will be all that relevant. Though I must admit I am somewhat concerned. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to peek into the kid’s lives, even if my mind is already creating the answers to each outcome. 

As of now the older Strider of this timeline has beaten the younger one in battle, and will later enter the medium himself, much like how he did in the alpha. Though what’s different is his sudden reluctance to fight against enemies, he seems concerned about something, that something being his little brother’s reaction. Though I imagine Dave wouldn’t care that he’s regretting anything, and let’s be honest neither do you. 

The male with the glasses took a clown to confront his dad, and they’re now having a talk about his repressed nightmares. Stuff that would be quite interesting to explore on it’s own. Too bad you can’t see what I see. The space girl seems more bothered by her dog than usual. She seems insistent on entering the frog temple, oh well, nothing important going on there.

Admittedly I can’t see what the lalonde kid is doing, she’s still near her mom. But if I had to take a guess I would say that nothing is happening that has that much of an impact. Rose has only spite for her mother, that is a fact that is Totally not fake that I am stating for the record 

So far they haven’t even entered the medium. I know this part of the story will end as soon as they do, not that it’s that interesting of a story to begin with. I suggest to direct your suggestions towards more productive outcomes. I want to see this alternate take on events unfold as much as you do. There are some patches that are still yet to be filled. I’d like that to be fixed eventually 

I’ll see you later 


	7. she's back 0u0

Your name is Sollux Captor and you were right. You being right is of surprise to nobody, aside from maybe people with no brains. You said you would all die and would you look at that death just went over to the troll kid buffet and grabbed himself a good ration of Megido without even thinking of the other guests, needless to say death is a jerk. A part of you wants to feel smug because you were actually correct but the rest of you is too busy grieving and feeling completely fucking angry. You are so angry you might even bother trolling these kids, in fact, you’re going to go do that right the fuck now.

You watch on screen one of the agents of Derse sneaking up on the shades kid, you hate this fucker already. You do the guy a favor and levitate the notebook he was reaching for over to him. The game has a tendency to fuck with player’s personal stuff, you found out after finding out a group of consorts worshipping one of your old personal computers, whatever the agent was gonna do with that notebook was probably completely unimportant and would lead to something ridiculously hilarious. 

The player looks absolutely terrified, it would be funny if it weren’t for the fact aa just died. You try to find more ways to mess with these kids. You consider trolling one of them, but who should you interfere with? Such a great dilemma, you might not even have time to find out. If only someone were to suggest, then maybe you’d (he’d) listen.

You don’t have time to think about it. Equius comes over to question you about her death. Or at least you assume he’s coming for questioning.

EQUIUS: D--> Lowblood 

SOLLUX: let me ju2t 2top you riight iin your track2. no ii have no iidea what happened and no ii cant fiix iit 

He looks like a nervous wreck. Everyone is pretty much freaking out at the moment. Karkat is trying to convince himself that make believe time is over. Gamzee looks like he’s disassociating though you don’t know the clown enough to confirm your suspicion. Looks like Feferi’s coming over there, you panic a bit on the inside. You don’t want her to see you freak out.

FEFERI: Sollux are you alright? 

EQUIUS: D--> W-with all due respect, heiress, i feel like your concern is wasted here 

SOLLUX: what the fuck doe2 that mean 

Is that fucker implying you didn’t care about Aradia? The thought of such accusation makes your blood boil. As if you need lecturing from this asshole, being the fact that his whole thing with Aradia was morally ambiguous at best and fucking nightmare fuel at worst.

FEFERI: Im stopping this before it befins. Equius would you please stay away for a moment? 

EQUIUS: D--> But- 

Equius stops himself in his own tracks and just walks away, though he seems to be sweatier than normal, oh well, his distaste for the Heiress’s orders probably won’t lead to some kind of character arc, you know, unless people suggest so.

The next few hours are a bore. Terezi attempts to find out who in the group might be responsible for Aradia’s double death. It leads to an assortment of useless shenanigans that honestly you’d rather skip, absolutely nothing of interest will happen as soon as you close your eyes for a m-Oh look Aradia’s back.

ARADIA: hi everybody! 

Everybody is absolutely surprised with this development. Vriska is the first to react, accusing Aradia of cheating the game somehow, then openly inviting her to join the power gamer club, which she realizes sounds dumb as soon as it comes out of her mouth and just shuts up. Nepeta almost thought she was a zombie, and finds herself frozen in time, much to Equius’s dismay as he is in need of pale assistance at the moment. Vriska puts Karkat to sleep as per Aradia’s orders. Aradia attempts to give gamzee the code for slime pie which he looks almost hesitant to refuse, oh well, probably nothing.

Strangely enough Gamzee goes to talk with Kanaya, you overhear something about

gEtTiNg mY MoThErFuCkInG AcT ToGeThEr gLoWsIs 

and they both disappear off to who knows where.

Aradia suggests that both Eridan and Feferi start talking to the humans, she says the same to you, and you say you’re just glad to have her back, but that you’re not willing to be buddy buddy with any human.

She says

“yeah well tough titties” 

and sends you on your way.

It’s good to have her back.


	8. Players: Do incredibly important things

Your name is Nepeta Leijon and you’re pretty confused. Aradia was dead, then she was a robot, then she was alive again? You can barely understand these shenanigans as they get more and more ridiculous and frankly you don’t want to try to understand, at least not at the moment. Your moirail is bursting with anger, you’re laying together in his room. He’s going on about how he’s confused about the whole hemospectrum deal. He’s starting to think it’s just a load of horseshit. Normally you’d calm him down but this is good for him, you let him get it all out.

You sort of blank out during his rant, and accidentally start trying to comprehend the shenanigans again. Even before today you had a pretty hard time comprehending everything that was going on, you guess you and gamzee bonded over it sometimes, not that you told Equius about that. The frog was the universe? Really? You only understood that sometimes you had to take down monsters and that was about it. You find yourself looking back at the team’s plan to exile Jack, the white king died, and you’ve had managed to send him through one of the meteor portals.

The fight lasted for hours and no one except a few managed to make any significant damage on the king. You really hope something changes, you’re pretty competent, or at least you like to think so, you hope that sooner than later you do something incredibly important.

Equius is looking at you, looking for a sign of reassurance, you tell him the hemospectrum’s bullshit, and he doesn’t say anything, but you can tell he acknowledged you were right to some extent.

You are now John, and holy shit has it been a confusing ride altogether. Rose can alter things in real life in your room, there are clowns everywhere. At least she seems to know exactly what she’s doing. She adviced you to keep close to your dad this entire time and you’ve done that, honestly you’re kind of afraid to let him go out of your sight for some reason. Rose for once stops mid game to ask you what to prototype, suddenly someone else starts pestering you

CC: JO)(N 

EB: please not right now. I’m already really freaked out 

EB: let me start off by saying you trolls are already messed up as it is and probably need to get your act together, though I guess I do too 

CC: Jo)(n what AR-E you talking about? 

CC: I need to say something INCR--EDIBLY IMPORTANT 

EB: no you listen, whatever you weirdos have to say is not gonna be as surprising as what I’ve already experienced today, don’t try, just go 

CC: John just prototype the darn rabbit >8/ 

You stare at your dad’s PDA for a solid ten seconds before you slap your face. Oh god they’re actual aliens aren’t they? You’re completely surprised by this amazing development.

Soon you would prototype Jade’s present. Which would lead you to alchemize a cruxite apple, and finally enter the medium. Later thanks to the advanced knowledge of the knight of time and seer of light the whole session would make their way in faster than anticipated by the trolls. They would prototype a rabbit, a princess doll, a non important puppet, and a first guardian. Though the seer and knight knew they could win the session, they also knew they would have to some extent orchestrate the troll’s doom.

End of Act One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave suggestions as to who's perspective should start us off next act.

**Author's Note:**

> All suggestions will be taken. Go nuts


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